Devizes Melting Pot

“Protection. Conservation. Restriction. Deep ecology. Give me deep technology any day. They don't scare me. "I'm damned if I'll crawl, my children's children crawl on the earth in some kind a fuckin' harmony with the environment. Yeah, till the next ice age or the next asteroid impact." (Moh Kohn, The Star Fraction)/
"This is the fight between God and the Devil. If His Grace is with God, he must join me, if he is for the Devil he must fight me. There is no third way" King Gustavus Adolphus

Saturday, June 30, 2007

New Camera Blogging

My father brought for me a Nikon D40x Digital Camera, as a graduating present and so I've been snap happy today learning how to use it, I took a couple of photos and I have present the three best ones.

To really enjoy the details do click on the photos to see it fully

A headshot of Heidi, its an amazing camera and so unfussy to use, brings out every detail of her whiskers and fur

A photo of George taken on my new camera

Still life photography, a Jade Plant - (Crassula ovata) better known as a Money Plant

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Tony Blair will fly to his Sedgefield constituency tomorrow afternoon to resign from parliament with immediate effect.

The move will come as Gordon Brown prepares to enter Number 10 Downing Street just after lunchtime tomorrow and prepare for a radical shake-up of the cabinet.

Mr Blair's local party has been gathered to hear his plan to quit politics to pursue his interests in middle east peace making and inter-faith reconciliation.

Mr Brown will go to see the Queen around 1.30pm to be asked to form a government, buoyed by engineering the extraordinary defection to Labour of Quentin Davies, the pro-European Tory MP, who then delivered a devastating resignation letter to David Cameron accusing him of "superficiality, unrealiility, and an apparent lack of convictions".

So Blair leaves office and ends up as the international Middle East peace envoy, what a stupid choice, it'll really go down well with the Palestinians. Blair has no credibility at all, he won't be regarded as a fair observer. He gave support to a one of the worst mistakes (Iraq) ever made, what makes the quartetthink he can solve the problem between Israel and Palestine?

Monday, June 25, 2007

Palestinian Poetry Blogging

Sonnet II

Perhaps you only ask for ambiguity when you turn your back to the river.There an autumn sprinkles water onto a stag from a passing cloud.There on what you left behind of the crumbs of your departure.The Milky Way is your ambiguity, the dust of nameless stars.Your ambiguity is a night in pearls lighting nothing but water.As for speech, it can light the night of someone setting forthbetween two odes and two rows of palms, with the single word: love

I am the one who saw his tomorrow when he saw you.I am the one who saw gospels written by the last idolater,on the slopes of Gilead before the old countries, and after.I am the cloud returning to a fig tree which bears my name,just as the sword bears the face of the slaughtered.Perhaps when you turn your shadow to me, you bestow unto metaphorthe meaning of something that is about to happen.

Mahmoud Darwish from A Bed For the Stranger (1999)

Translated by Sinan Antoon and edited by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché

Lord Ashdown, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, was offered a job in Gordon Brown's first cabinet, he said today.

The peer - reportedly offered the position of Northern Ireland secretary - said he refused the job, and would have done so even if he had received the consent of Sir Menzies Campbell, the current party leader.

"It is true that Mr Brown suggested ... that I might take a position in the cabinet," Lord Ashdown said, in a statement sent to the BBC.

very strange behaviour from Gordon Brown, why on earth would he offer the job of Northern Ireland secretary to Paddy Ashdown?

I mean its a step down from being Lord High Sheriff of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Police in Jerusalem were preparing for violent protests from hardline religious groups today during a planned Gay Pride march through the streets of the city centre.

Police have faced violent skirmishes in ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods of the city since approving the march a week ago. More than 100 people have been arrested, according to police.

Yesterday, Israel's supreme court gave formal approval for the event, dismissing an appeal by rightwing groups.

Up to 5,000 marchers were expected to take part in this evening's parade, which will travel just 500 metres from the city's King David hotel to a park, where a gathering will be held. They will be guarded by more than 7,000 police.

Jerusalem's Gay Pride march is a relatively low-key affair, even by comparison with its annual equivalent in Tel Aviv, with none of the flamboyance and costumes associated with such events in Europe and the US.

Every year, the march prompts an angry reaction from Jews, Christians and Muslims and has increasingly become a point of division for conservative, religious opinion and more secular, leftwing citizens.

Quite depressing no? the only time the three main religions can agree is when it comes to attacking gays,lesbians, atheism, secularism and science.

Certainly prove that the religious conservatives are as batshit insane as each other

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

In the spacious, top-floor office of Gaza's former police chief, the television was tuned to al-Aqsa TV, the Hamas channel, and at lunchtime half a dozen well-armed, bearded Hamas commanders rose in unison and knelt in prayer.

On the streets there were no policemen to be seen. Instead, across the city stood small groups of Hamas gunmen, some in uniform, others not.

Hamas might be a bunch of idiots but it is not surprising they would start sorting out the criminal gangs.

Now if Hamas don't start firing rockets into Israel and play along ruling the Gaza Strip then ok, but as soon as they start up again Israel will be in there as fast as possible and this time they will know that anyone with a gun is Hamas.

The quartet are wasting their time backing Fatah, who are discredited in many Palestinian eyes.

Britain could be heavily involved in Afghanistan for decades, the UK's new ambassador to the country said today, calling it "a marathon not a sprint".

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, who took up the post last month after stints as ambassador in Israel and Saudi Arabia, said Britain's recently expanded diplomatic efforts in the country could have begun sooner.

"Maybe we should have raised our game earlier, but now we have," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme from Kabul.

British troops probably really want to go to Afghanistan because its a proper war, with less civilians , a chance for them to fire their weapons, see live action, chance to get a medal heh

unlike Iraq, you know perhaps Britain should withdraw from Iraq and concentrated our forces in Afghanistan. Currently the British army suffers from equipment which is old or wearing out, from helicopters to planes to vehicles.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

I was rooting for the English soprano Elizabeth Watts myself, her voice was beautiful and she really engaged the audience, was delighted she won the World Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize on Friday evening.

The Audience Prize, voted on by viewers, online users and the audience in St David's Hall, went to South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo.

Jubilant Hamas militants cemented their domination over Gaza yesterday but appeared to make conciliatory overtures to their Fatah opponents after a week of intense fighting that has effectively broken Palestine in two.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza, called for new negotiations with the Fatah leader and Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and urged calm from his own gunmen after they had routed Fatah rivals and embarked on a wave of looting in Fatah offices and homes in the Gaza Strip. Hamas also released 10 senior Fatah officials captured during five days of clashes that killed more than 100 people.

There will be probably a three state solution. Hamas will rule the Gaza Strip, Israel in the centre and the West Bank will be controlled by Fatah.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Hamas fighters today basked in triumph after taking complete control in Gaza as the west scrambled for a response to the arrival of Islamist power on Israel's doorstep.

In a stark demonstration of the new facts on the ground, a masked Hamas fighter sat down at the desk of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, and declared an end to the western-backed authority in the Gaza strip.

In an imaginary telephone call to the US, a fighter from the Islamist movement's armed wing Izz el-Deen al-Qassam joked: "Hello Condoleezza Rice. You have to deal with me now, there is no Abu Mazen anymore."

This is the logical outcome of US and Israeli policy towards Palestine, a civil war.

Its also Yasser Arafat's fault, he sat on his arse doing nothing for 26 years, just collecting the cash. He died and now Hamas and Fatah are fighting over who gets the money, it has little to do with ideology.

In the short term Hamas might offer some stability and get some basic services working, with no one else to fight.

I think all those rallying behind Abbas (the quartet) are wasting their time. Basically Fatah will run the West Bank and Hamas the Gaza Strip. The Egyptians won't stand for Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip, especially if it grows strong, they might even invade, as it might encourage their own Muslim Brotherhood and I am surprise Saudi Arabia and Israel have not sorted out the Palestinian situation themseleves, because it is in both their interests, as for those commentators who say 'oh but we must talk to the moderate', what fucking moderates? Sometimes you have to deal with people who you don't really want to deal with. Just look at N Ireland, Martin Mcguinness is now a MP and is in a government with Ian Paisley.

But thats just my view, I cannot give a satisfactory answer as I'm not there

The US military has embarked on a new and risky strategy in Iraq by arming Sunni insurgents in the hope that they will tackle the extremist al-Qaida in Iraq.

The US high command this month gave permission to its officers on the ground to negotiate arms deals with local leaders. Arms, ammunition, body armour and other equipment, as well as cash, pick-up trucks and fuel, have already been handed over in return for promises to turn on al-Qaida and not attack US troops.

What on earth makes the US army think the Sunni insurgents will keep their promise not to use weapons given to them by the US on the US army?

This just adds fuel to an already out of control fire.

Its an incredibly stupid idea, one in a long list of stupidity which has characterized this misadventure that is Iraq.

A series of blasts have destroyed two minarets at an already damaged Shia shrine in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra.

The explosions were heard in the vicinity of the Askariya mosque at about 9:00am (0500 GMT) on Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

"The explosion targeted the two golden minarets. They have been damaged ... This is a criminal act which aims at creating sectarian strife," Saleh al-Haidari, the head of the Shia endowment in Iraq, said.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

The old division of upper, middle and working class have gone and this has taken its place

What right wing vulgar libertarian fuckheads forget is that with the process of land enclosures, the taking away of public land, the end of subsistence farming, this left an uprooted populace with little visible means of support, which required a welfare state.

The Land Enclosures led to the need and development of a Welfare State.

Tony Blair has presided over a dramatic collapse in voters' faith in government amid signs that Iraq has accelerated a post-Second World War decline in British deference to authority.

As he prepares to leave office, just 29 per cent of voters trust the Prime Minister, down from 46 per cent who had confidence in Blair in 2000, according to an Ipsos Mori poll.

All Prime Ministers expect to see their trust ratings decline. But the fall has been particularly acute in recent years. Only 17 per cent of people now believe the government can be trusted to put the interests of the country ahead of their party, the classic trust test. More than double this number - 38 per cent - had faith in the government in 1986.

This does not surprise me, would you trust the government with these new anti terror laws these days? The answer would be no. Blair and NuLab have this great belief that in dealing with a problem like terrorism, a new law needs to be created, however as the police will tell you they already have enough laws, also how many terrorist attacks have happened these past couple of years? One! Your more likely to die from an accident on the M25 than from a terrorist attack, so the endless fearmongering by the government only serves to help them in their need for control.

Laws are created with consent from the people, without it the law becomes very unpopular, doesn't even work if you run a police state. This is what makes the Smoking Ban in Public Places different, in that the majority support it, there is little need for the local councils to go snooping around making sure it is implemented, it has been successful in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

The British Media

Last month me and my dad were watching archive footage of old news reports from the 80s, to do with the Falklands War and the Beeb was much more hard hitting back then, with the way they presented the news, just straight facts.

Not the current filler friendly howyadoing crap which has infected the Six O'Clock News. There is so much waffle in news reports these days and such inane questions.

Since Hutton BBC News Reporting is not as good as it was, even Sky News, owned by the Dirty Digger and a sister channel to Fox News has had better reporting on Iraq.

I think 24 hr rolling news has destroyed good quality journalism. Chasing ratings and reporters egos being inflated. To any journalists out there, your job is to report the news, not become the news!

Two senior security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the raid was limited in scope and that it did not constitute the kind of large incursion that Turkish leaders have been discussing in recent weeks.

"It is not a major offensive and the number of troops is not in the tens of thousands," one of the officials told The Associated Press by telephone. The official is based in southeast Turkey, where the military has been battling separatist Kurdish rebels since they took up arms in 1984.

The officials did not say where the Turkish force was operating in northern Iraq, nor did he say how long they would be there.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Sebastian Coe, chairman of London's Olympic organising committee, has unveiled a "multimedia" brand image and logo for the London 2012 Olympic games.

The branding, which replaces the multicoloured Thames river-shaped "ribbon" that threads its way through the current motif, is considered to be a key stage in the transformation of the London bid from the status of successful candidate to host city.

What a crap logo, its like something from the 80s, did they get a 3 year old to draw it? They spent £400 000 on this crap.

Anti-abortion campaigners are ready to launch a US-style cultural war against the 40-year-old law that allows women in the UK to choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies - with politicians who are also practising Roman Catholics as their first targets.

MPs and other elected representatives who attend Mass but have not taken a hard line against abortion will be targeted by activists who say they should be disowned by the Church.

The head of the 17,000-strong Life League said yesterday that the organisation will write to every Catholic MP demanding a clear statement that they support the Church's line on abortion and all other "life" issues.

What a woman does with her own body is no ones business but hers, the anti-abortion idiots are nosy busybodies who need to STFU. Banning abortion won't stop women getting them, the wealthier ones will go abroad while the less well off will go for an unsafe backstreet abortion, with the possibility of infection or even death. Put quite simply if your pro choice your anti-coathanger. What these anti abortion tossers want to do is condemn women to pain and misery.

I suspect Cardinal Keith O'Brien is fuming at the fact that 90% of catholics ignore what their cardinals say.

Unless the Catholic church stops objecting to contraception, then they have no credibility in this area.